They have protection for the aggressive street rider
and they offer more protection than most commuting or touring gloves.

This makes them a good all-around pair of motorcycle gloves that offer a
good balance of protection and comfort.

SuperFabric and CE certification, along with a proper gauntlet and
wrist closure instill confidence that they will protect and stay on the
wrist in a crash.

The downside is that these features add to the cost of the Grip
gloves and it's difficult to find them at discount.

Background

The Racer Gloves name may not be as recognizable as Joe Rocket or
Alpinestars, for example, but this Austrian motorcycle apparel company should no
doubt be familiar to regular readers of webBikeWorld.

About a dozen
Racer glove reviews have been published so far on webBikeWorld, yet the Racer Gloves USA lineup
keeps expanding, with quite a few options to offer motorcyclists -- now eighteen different gloves for men and nine styles for women.
And counting...

Thus, webBikeWorld readers should be very familiar with the brand.
Racer Gloves USA is the
importer/distributor in the U.S. for
Racer Outdoor GmbH and they currently
focus on motorcycle gloves.

The lineup ranges from lightweight summer mesh gloves all the way to
full on race-worthy styles with comprehensive protection for the track
rider, such as the acclaimed
Racer R-Safe Gloves (review), a webBikeWorld Motorcycle Product of
the Year Award winner.

In Europe, Racer offers a full lineup of motorcycle apparel, including
jackets, boots and more.

The gloves weíre looking at today are the ďGripĒ gloves,
which fall right in the middle of the Racer Gloves range. The Grip
gloves offer good
protection without the bulk (and price) of a full-on race glove. Letís
have a look.

The Grip gloves are a smart-looking sport riding glove that at
first glance arenít that distinguishable from many other sport riding
gloves.

The white pair used for this review does stand out a bit
compared to its black counterpart, but otherwise the Grip gloves look at
home ripping up back roads as well as commuting to work and back.

Take a closer look at the Grip gloves and you can see they mean
business; there are a lot of protectors and padding and extra
patches of leather that go into the construction. Frankly, this is a
rather complex item, considering what it must take to put all
of the various pieces together.

The Grip gloves
are available in black or white versions and the black version is
almost entirely that color, save for a reflective strip on the back of the
wrist and the perforated leather on the thumb.

Even the knuckle protector has an ďinverseĒ in the graphic pattern coloring. I chose
the white version specifically, as it
is summer here in the United States and lighter colors do tend to
stay cooler in the sunlight.

Also, the white gloves with its graphic pattern are a little bit different
from rest of the black gloves I have on the shelf at home.

White
does have its drawbacks though, as it can become soiled
after a few weeks or months of regular riding. Although Iíve only had
these gloves a short time, I can already start to see some of the
perforated white leather beginning to get a bit dirty. Enough about dirt
though, letís get to the review!

The Grip gloves are by no means a simple design. Looking closely, you can see
there is a lot going on, from the gauntlet to the fingertips.

The overall
construction is goat leather and it is used for both the "chassis" or
body of the gloves and
the palms. Goat leather may not be commonly used in
motorcycle gloves and may seem out of place on a relatively expensive
pair like the Grip gloves.

Goat leather is used because it's thinner, yet provides good abrasion
resistance with lighter weight than most cow hide.

Goat leather is also generally more supple than cow hide, so it gives
a better grip feel than thicker leather. It also provides good heat
transfer when using heated grips, which is a plus.

Gauntlet and Closure

Moving on from the great goat debate, the gauntlet of the Grip gloves has a good sized opening of
15.26 cm (6 inches), which should
accommodate the sleeve cuffs of most motorcycle jackets.

The closure for the gauntlet consists of a
single large flap with a generous amount of unbranded hook-and-loop
fastener that holds very strongly.

A 12.5 mm wide leather strap is used to secure the glove at the wrist and it
runs under the wrist from near the base of the thumb to the other side
of the palm. This strap uses the same strong hook and loop as the
gauntlet closure and has a rubber pull tab sewn on to the end of it.

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Stitching and Construction

The
palms of the Grip gloves have extra leather running from the heel and it
continues up and around the little finger while at the top of the palm
sits a patch of Pittards leather which runs up the inside facing side of the thumb.

Double stitching is used across most of the seams and all the stitching
required does make the palm area look busy.

The finger boxes have a
combination of outside and inside stitching and they are cut in a
pre-curved fashion for the best position on a motorcycle grip.

On the
top of the larger fingers are extra patches of leather and soft knuckle
protectors covered with SuperFabric
(more on those shortly). Also, the index and
middle fingers get patches of white leather for the ring
finger.

The three larger fingers also get a small amount of accordion-pleated leather
as stretch panels at the base knuckle position. These sit just
ahead of the hard, foam-backed knuckle protector that is double-stitched
into place in the white leather back of the glove.

On the back edge of
the protector on each glove is a small reflective strip with the Racer
logo on it.

There is a lot of work to manufacture and overall Racer has
done a good job, but itís not perfect. For instance, the stitching is
mostly good and tight but there are a few spots where it looks a bit
rough.

This is most noticeable on the additional leather patches on
the tops of the fingers where it looks a bit crooked. It makes me think
that the main seams are stitched by machine while the additional pieces
are hand sewn.

Along that same line, I found a thread that appears to
have pulled at the point where one of the soft knuckle protectors is attached on the middle finger of the left glove. Also, the
leather patches on the fingers seem a bit rough. Perhaps these
pieces are cut by hand as well?

Ventilation

Over the back of the wrist is a section of perforated white
leather that connects to the adjoining section with a segment of
accordion stretch panel. Right behind that is a rubber piece marked ďAir
ControlĒ.

It has two holes in it with what looks like a patch of screen
underneath.

If by "Air Control" it means to reduce air flow, than it
works well. Much more air flows through the perforated sections than
through the two tiny holes in the air control piece.

The gauntlet strap
on the back bisects the white perforated leather at an angle and within
the strap is a soft, leather covered protector for impact protection.

Moving to the inside, the
entire interior uses a thin polyester liner which provides a nice smooth
surface for slipping your hand in and out of.

The liner is thin enough
to flow air though where the out leather is perforated and one can
easily see light through the perforations when holding them up.

Besides the perforated
sections of leather on the thumb and the back of the wrist, there are a
few perforations on the sides of each finger. Stretching my fingers
out will induce a small volume of air to flow through, but these arenít
dedicated summer gloves. Racer calls them three season gloves.

Still, having worn them this summer they are pretty comfortable up to
30 C or so (high 80ís F). The white color on the gloves also seems to
help
reduce heat buildup in the sun.

The Grip gloves do not suffer from a lack of protective features; the
most obvious is the large main knuckle protector.

Racer doesnít actually specify what material the protector is
made from but it is very strong and stiff, so we'll guess it's
thermoplastic polyurethane, commonly used for protectors on motorcycle
gloves.

This protector also has a unique texture and
feel that was puzzling to me at first, but it turns out that the
protector is covered with leather. This is a nice touch but Iím not sure
why this was done.

I would think that having a low friction
surface would be better that the more ďgrippyĒ surface of the leather
covering.

Either way, the protector appears rather durable and is backed
with a thick foam padding for additional impact protection and comfort.
It does well at both.

The palm has a patch of Pittards leather
running near the base of the fingers and up a portion of the thumb that
provides additional abrasion resistance for that area.

The tops of the
individual finger knuckles, except the little finger, have soft
protectors (foam?) that are covered with SuperFabric.

The SuperFabric used in the Grip gloves is the "bead" type (there are
many types of SuperFabric) and the beads give the
protectors the appearance of a blackberry (the fruit, not the
smartphone).

The SuperFabric beads make the surface feel slick and in addition to
abrasion protection, they should allow
the protector to slide longer before wearing down or catching on a
surface.

The protectors covering the top knuckles behind the fingertips have
some type of smooth nylon-like surface. The thumb has two protectors,
one looks like leather and the other is SuperFabric.

On the heel
of the palm are two more somewhat thicker versions of SuperFabric bead protectors that are placed well to allow the hand to slide in the
event of a crash.

There is one more soft protector on the gauntlet strap
to protect the pisiform bone covered with leather and has the Racer
graphic screen onto it.

On the back of the hand at the wrist is a
trapezoid-shaped section of rubber that should provide additional impact
protection. As mentioned earlier, this area is marked ďAir ControlĒ but
the vents in it provide little to no air flow, especially compared to the
perforated leather area around the piece itself.

Racer Gloves claim their motorcycle gloves are ďThe Best Fitting
Motorcycle Gloves You Can BuyĒ. In fact, they offer a money-back
guarantee if the gloves donít fit, and that includes return shipping for
exchanges.

Thatís quite a bold statement and it demonstrates their
commitment to getting a good fit.

So how do the Grip gloves fare? After measuring
my hands using Racerís method and chart, it appeared that a size large
would be right for me. If youíve read my other glove reviews over the years,
you may recall I typically wear a size medium in most brands.

However,
this is the second pair of size large -- not medium -- gloves Iíve reviewed
recently which fit me.
Are my hands growing? I donítí think so. It must be that the motorcycle glove industry
standards have changed!

Kidding aside, when I first received this pair
of Grip gloves I thought they fit ďOKĒ. They were rather stiff out of
the package and the fingers didnít seem to feel right. The fingers were
long enough, but the area where they meet the palm seemed to put a bit of
pressure on the space between my fingers.

So they didnít impress me
as the best-fitting gloves Iíve ever worn.

But over the next three or so weeks of riding with them, they finally did break in and now they
are more comfortable. After several more weeks, they have softened up
even more and they do feel pretty soft.

Even after a thorough break-in, the Grip gloves are a bit of a compromise in the way they fit. They
are designed for motorcycle riding, so they fingers are pre-curved for
holding the hand grips. This means that there is some restriction felt
if I stretch my fingers out straight.

Likewise, the thumb is restricted in its movement, as it is designed to
be holding a grip, not stretched wide open. These compromises really
arenít surprising though.

Unless a company is making custom fit gloves
for every customer, they arenít going to fit the best for everyone so it
is good that they offer a generous exchange policy.

Reflective Material

In addition to the
various impact and abrasion-resistant features, the Racer Grip gloves have
two separate reflective areas. There is one large strip on the
back of the wrist and smaller tab sewn on the rear edge of the knuckle
protector.

The Racer Grip gloves are good all-around pair of motorcycle gloves that
offer a good balance of protection and comfort.

The protective features
are comprehensive and having a proper gauntlet and wrist closure instills
confidence that they will stay on the wrist in a crash.

The CE
certification rounds out the safety aspects well.

After several weeks of
wearing them, the gloves have softened up considerably but I still would not
classify them as the best fitting gloves Iíve worn.

Iím certain that for
some, Racer gloves may very well offer an excellent fit and I applaud
their return/exchange policy. If their gloves are going to be the best
fit for some people, their exchange policy gives the buyer some
confidence.

Finally, Iím not completely convinced on the value
factor. The materials and construction are good but at the retail price of
$159.99 (USD) they seem a touch expensive for what they deliver compared
to some of the competition.

From "S.B." (November 2015): "Further to your article on these
gloves and the linked article about CE certified/approved, etc.

I note on the label attached to my UK supplied Racer Grip gloves that
it says:

"CE English Advice - These gloves do not guarantee a specific shock
reduction." and

"General Information These RACER gloves are considered as PPE
category 1 as per directive 89/686/EEC. Category I classified gloves
protect against minimal risks such as minor impacts which do not affect
vital parts of the body.

EN 13594 has been used as guidance to prepare the Cat I technical
file for these gloves.

The RACER gloves are designed to ensure good grip when riding your
motorbike, to protect against wind, cold and rain and vibrations during
riding."

Ah -- so not designed to provide any impact or abrasion protection
then!?

I don't know if Racer are any better or worse than others and if one
reads the EEC directive all motorcycle gloves would likely fall into
Category I.

This means that no EC inspection or approval is needed and no quality
system needs to be in place. The same category applies to gardening
gloves and thimbles.

What would be good to see would be greater transparency from all
manufacturers. Why do we have to wait until we've purchased a product
and can read the CE label to see this detail?

The marketing material is full of claims about protection and CE
certification etc,, but they are all being economical with the truth.

In truth there is no sign of testing for protection in products like
these. I don't see why a good manufacturer would not test and state the
shock and abrasion protection their products can offer under limited
conditions. Magazines sometimes test for this.

What we can say is that CE marking is of no value in this context and
should not be relied on in any way."

From Racer USA (August 2015): "Racer is a small company which
doesnít produce the quantities of some of the bigger brands. Thus, production
costs are higher.

The goat leather may have been less expensive than cowhide, but it
also has certain stretch characteristics that cow hide does not have and
goat is also softer and more supple.

In this case, the Grip glove is based off the popular Limes glove
(review) pattern and has been updated. SuperFabric in the finger
knuckles and palm slider; printed leather-covered knuckle with
reflective "Racer" logo and other reflective strip on gauntlet.

Pittards leather patch on palm aids in grip and wear. These, along
with the molded vent on top of the wrist and molded logo on the wrist
strap added to the cost.

Also, the Limes glove was designed and produced several years ago and
the cost of leather and overall production has increased since then. The
SuperFabric and creating the mold for the protector and air intake,
along with the reflective strips account for the pricing."